Computing devices have been quickly integrating into every aspect of everyday life. For example, cellular phones have gone from being rare devices to in every pocket. Those same cellular phones have also developed in computing power from mere mobile phones to mobile computers, capable of running applications and performing all the tasks of a modern computer. Most of the electronics for these conventional devices are manufactured using conventional silicon substrate-based manufacturing and design. However, the size and rigidity of the silicon substrate or other semiconductor substrate makes the electronic devices unsuitable for some environments. An approach for manufacturing these conventional devices is shown in FIG. 1. FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating conventional manufacturing of electronic devices according to the prior art. At block 102, fabricated devices may be manufactured on a substrate, such as through material deposition, photolithography, etching, and the like. Many devices are fabricated on one large substrate. At block 104, those different devices are diced by laser into individual silicon dies shown at block 106. Each silicon die is then packaged into an integrated circuit (IC) at block 108.
The concept of ubiquitous computing is continuing to develop, such as in the developing Internet of Everything (IoE), but a key factor in continuing ubiquitous computer's expansion is in manufacturing capability. Devices must be cheap to manufacture and easy to place in various environments in order to deploy of trillions of devices and sensors throughout the world. Some work has been done in the manufacturing of flexible semiconductor devices. One predominant focus has been to demonstrate flexible and stretchable sensors, energy harvesters, and storage to break the status quo of rigid, bulky, and planar devices to build electronics that can comply with the soft moduli of skin and follow its asymmetric terrain to be in conformal intimate contact for enhanced functionality in monitoring. Often times, conventional sensor technologies provide analog signal data that needs to be digitalized for further processing, and then rigid and bulky integrated circuits (ICs) are again required.
One conventional technology developed to improve manufacturing of ubiquitous computing devices involves body integrated systems using microfluidic assisted assembly and environment or direct bonding on flexible printed circuit boards (PCBs). However, those ICs are rigid and typically occupy 1 cm2 area or more. These constraints limit the system's compliance with our skin, and creates localized hot spots to make our experience highly uncomfortable and unhealthy. Thus, further efforts in manufacturing devices for ubiquitous computing are needed.